State v. Bliss

Citations

• 27 Wash. 463
• 68 P. 87
• 1902 Wash. LEXIS 413

Syllabus

<p>LARCENY-INFORMATION-DUPLICITY.</p> <p>An information charging larceny .which alleges the taking of different property from two different persons, without alleging that the taking was at the same time and place, other than the averment that it was on a given day in a certain county, is bad for duplicity and uncertainty, in contravention of the rules stated in Bal. Code, §§ 6844, 6842, requiring that the indictment .or information charge but one crime, in one form only, and that it must be direct and certain as regards the crime charged.</p> <p>SAME-POSSESSION OF RECENTLY STOLEN PROPERTY-PRESUMPTIONS.</p> <p>An instruction in a prosecution for burglary that if the jury believe the defendant was found in the possession of the property stolen, soon after it was stolen, “such possession is a strong criminating circumstance tending to show the guilt of the defendant,” was erroneous, under the rule in this state which treats the possession of recently stolen property as simply a fact to be considered by the jury as any other fact, and its weight is for the jury alone.</p> <p>CRIMINAL LAW-EXCESSIVE PUNISHMENT.</p> <p>The sentence of one convicted of crime to imprisonment for just one half of the maximum penalty provided by statute is not so excessive as to call for the interference of the supreme court with the discretion exercised by the lower court in imposing the sentence.</p>